Drawn the Road Again

Tag: west

  • Towering guilt

    Towering guilt

    You know, if you think about it, a place that lets you pay money to drive your car through a hole cut into a centuries-old living redwood tree is kind of the perfect illustration of the bad side of American culture. The first time I was (literally) in this neck of the woods, the guilt…

  • Tag, you’re it

    Tag, you’re it

    Parking lots at national parks at the height of summer are the best place on earth to play the license plate game. Anybody got Hawaii?

  • Where the Heck?

    Where the Heck?

    I was born 50 miles west of Wall Drug. True story. I think, therefore, that my undying love of roadside attractions is imprinted on the genetic level. Even if you don’t have this place in your DNA, it’s pretty hard not to be curious about something hawked by a hundred billboards as you drive through…

  • On a mission

    On a mission

    Someday I’ll get to all 21 missions along El Camino Real, but for my first-ever mission visit, I had to choose a starting point. Who wouldn’t pick the one used in an Alfred Hitchcock film? And one starring Jimmy Stewart, no less! I mean, come on. Though you’d never know it from the sun and…

  • Have sketchbook, will travel

    Have sketchbook, will travel

    You know when you’re on a road trip, and you see a highway billboard that says something like, “World’s Largest Two-Headed Calf, Exit Now!” and you consider stopping, just for a moment? And then your spouse looks it up on the map, and you discover that yeah, it’s this exit, plus maybe another 140 miles…